SYRIZA submitted three amendments to the bill from the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports titled “Establishment of a Higher School of Performing Arts, Creation of a New Category of Art Education Positions, Operational Framework for Higher Schools of Art Education and Higher Schools of Music Education, and Other Provisions."
According to SYRIZA’s press release, among other things, changes are proposed regarding teacher transfers, university faculty promotions, and salary recognition of archaeologists’ prior service.
Specifically:
1.With the amendment regarding “transfers of teachers and members of Special Educational Staff and Special Support Staff, a paragraph is added to Article 6 of Law 2740/1999 – Authorizing Provision.” The provision in the bill under discussion that interested parties must serve on secondment for at least five (5) consecutive years is deemed excessively restrictive, as it overlooks the overall contribution of educators who have served for a long time in administrative positions with only brief interruptions.
For reasons of legal equality and equal treatment, it is deemed necessary to grant the right to transfer to all teachers in primary or secondary education and members of the Special Education Staff (E.E.P.) and Special Support Staff (E.B.P.), without restrictions, beyond their permanent appointment.
This proposal will align with the principles of professional mobility and will facilitate the utilization of the experience gained by seconded staff, thereby strengthening the effective staffing of the services and institutions of the education system.
At the same time, social security and pension rights, salary continuity, and personal seniority, while priority criteria are established where permanent positions are insufficient, along with an obligation to remain in the position for a reasonable period after transfer, so that administrative continuity is based on genuine stability rather than on constant temporary solutions.
2. The amendment titled “Regulations on the career advancement of Applied Lecturers who obtain a doctoral degree,” the possibility of career advancement is provided for serving lecturers who were appointed to permanent positions on a fixed-term basis or to ad personam positions as “applied lecturers” at domestic universities resulting from the absorption or conversion of former Technological Educational Institutions (TEI), who obtain a doctoral degree as an Assistant Professor, retaining their tenure without a time limit.
The deadline currently set for the promotion of an Applied Lecturer who obtains a doctoral degree to Assistant Professor is quite restrictive, given that many of the lecturers who possess many years of diverse teaching experience began working on their doctoral dissertations at a later stage; consequently, it was not possible for them to complete it by the deadline set forth in paragraph 9 of Article 463 of Law 4957/2022, specifically December 31, 2024.
Otherwise, the regional Departments resulting from the absorption or conversion of former Technological Educational Institutes (TEIs), and which face a serious staffing shortage, will have faculty members in their ranks at the rank of Lecturer in Applied Sciences who have earned a Ph.D., meaning they possess the formal and substantive qualifications of an Assistant Professor, yet they will not be able to undertake a range of academic duties nor will they be able to contribute to the handling of the ever-increasing administrative workload.
3. With the amendment regarding “salary recognition of prior service for archaeologists on third-party archaeological projects, ” aimed at eliminating unjustified salary discrimination among employees in the PE Archaeologists category, who may have the same length of experience in archaeological work, always under the direct supervision and control of the Archaeological Service, but under different employment arrangements, it is provided that prior service rendered to private-sector employers under employment contracts— whether permanent or fixed-term, or under a contract for specific work, and which relates to archaeological projects or work, within the meaning of Articles 35 to 38 of Law 4858/2021 (A’ 220), provided that such projects are carried out under the supervision of the relevant Ephorate of Antiquities or the Central Service of the Ministry of Culture.